I applied online on the careers website and was contacted by a recruiter about a week later. Recruiter was very interactive and ensured that I was prepared for the interview, very positive experience with the recruiter. He was able to schedule me for an interview.
On the interview day, the GM and a hiring manager called me 14 minutes after the scheduled time. Very positive interaction with the GM and he was genuinely trying to find out the extent of my experiences, my interpersonal skills and how it relates to the job description.
The hiring manager was a fellow veteran, and decided to question why I did not choose to retire instead, and how I'll only have 12 years to go. I am a job seeker looking for meaningful employment, I am not looking for a counseling session on how I should've went about my career. He doesn't know me beyond my job application, he doesn't know my work ethic. I had explained my reasons for leaving the service, telling him that promotion for my current job is very low, and I continuously seek growth and I believe this is the right route. He responded with, "didn't they tell you that when you took that job?" He then proceeded to base my 8 years of my military experience on the 2 years that I was a general duty corpsman, saying that I'm "medical," like that's really the extent of my 8 years of experience. Like I didnt actually perform safety inspections using OSHA-based guidelines for 6+ years. He then asked if I was applying anywhere else, and I was purely honest and stated that I was applying for a quality assurance job. He then stated "oh yeah that's something along more your experience." I don't know what I said to tick him off, but I'm glad to have pulled my application from them. That interaction speaks volumes on how they treat their workers, seeing as how they're currently facing a class action lawsuit on wage violations. Their websites states that they "take care of their coworkers," but I'm not sure anymore after this interaction.
The hiring manager is probably right, the other company I applied to is probably a better fit, they treated me with respect, and were genuinely interested not only on what my resume says but my interpersonal skills, my ability to create meaningful connections, the fact that I'm teachable and my ability to find solutions in ambiguous situations. I would rather work where respect is commonplace, where people are open-minded and aren't afraid of new experiences. Glad I pulled my application.